Chester Township has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
For jobs and income Chester Township is better than 58% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). Employers in Chester Township report 59 jobs; 735 of its residents have a job. Only 1% work in Chester Township; the top destination outside it is Lansing (21%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2021, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Chester Township, in a few figures
Where Chester Township’s Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate holds Chester Township’s grade up (7.3%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($74,342, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (2.4%) is left out: Chester Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
The commuting and job counts on this page are Census LEHD 2021: Michigan reports later than other states, so its newest year is two years behind.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Chester Township could be anywhere from B− to B+.
How a workday changes Chester Township
On a workday 725 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 49 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Chester Township on a workday afternoon, 38% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2021, primary jobs.
Where Chester Township goes to work
Where Chester Township clocks in
21% of workers
11% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Chester Township
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester Township, 2011 → 2021: 38 → 59. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2021.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Chester Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Chester Township: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester Township workers work from home, vs 14% across Michigan. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 571 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Michigan: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Short hops and long hauls from Chester Township
About 17% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2021.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Chester Township start in a car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.8% across Michigan, on an EPA index of 3.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 639 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.3% of Chester Township households have no vehicle (Michigan 7.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chester Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chester Township places 1,840th of 6,085 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Caledonia MI | 1,778 | $106K | 3.7% | 0.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Wheatfield Township MI | 1,659 | $117K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 263 | Sylvan Lake MI | 1,685 | $106K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,838 | Cascade IA | 2,399 | $70K | 8.7% | 1.3% | 9% | B |
| 1,839 | Coal Creek Township IN | 1,489 | $85K | 4.4% | 3.9% | 2% | B |
| 1,840 | Chester Township MI | 1,770 | $74K | 7.3% | 2.4% | 1% | B |
| 1,841 | Grand Rapids Township OH | 1,582 | $77K | 9.1% | 5.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,842 | Washington Township PA | 2,133 | $81K | 13.7% | 0.5% | 13% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Chester Township, the top three, the last and three more from Michigan.
Next door to Chester Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chester Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Township | – | B | C+ | 27 min | $74,342 |
| Benton Township | under 2% | B+ | C | 24 min | $97,222 |
| Vermontville Township | under 2% | C | C− | 33 min | $70,000 |
| Carmel Township | under 2% | B+ | D− | 22 min | $95,083 |
| Roxand Township | under 2% | A− | D | 28 min | $95,625 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chester Township’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2021, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Chester Township: questions
What is the median household income in Chester Township?
$74,342 (±$6,898) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,875 across Michigan and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester Township?
7.3%, against 13.2% across Michigan and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Michigan and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester Township work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lansing (21%, 18 mi), Charlotte (11%, 6 mi), Delta Township (9%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2021).
Is Chester Township walkable?
Chester Township is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 3.2 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chester Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chester Township
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.